Spend and deliver

If you go down to Ballaghaderreen today, you are

sure of a big surprise

For every minister that ever there

was, will gather there for certain

because,

today is the day the ministers

have their picnic.

And what a picnic: nothing less than £13.4 billion worth of projects and for the first time the Government is encouraging the regional authorities to "spend and deliver". For those who live in this area - the people who will welcome the Cabinet - what is happening today in Co Roscommon is probably the most significant development since the area was hit by the Famine in the late 1840s.

According to Eddie Sheehy, the interim director of the Border Midlands and Western (BMW) Regional Authority, the investment of almost £14,000 for each man, woman and child in the Border Midlands and Western Region has created the prospect of third-generation Irish labourers from Birmingham returning to work on the motorways in the west of Ireland.

He and the director-designate of the BMW region, Gerry Finn, anticipate the changes of the coming years. "It is a very exciting time for the region," says Sheey, adding that "once the money is there, the capacity to deliver will increase, and it will mean people coming in to get jobs here when they used to be leaving."

Sheehy, who is also Roscommon County Manager and will revert to that job when he is replaced by Gerry Finn on February 1st, says "up to a few years ago the problem was trying to curtail the expenditure. You had to explain to people that you had no money. Now there is a significant amount of money available and the message from Government is to get on and deliver."

The National Plan, he says, will provide a dual carriageway from Dublin to Galway. Equally, the N4 from Dublin to Sligo will "be totally improved". The prospects for industrialists to get their products to the market are excellent, he maintains, adding that the commitment by the IDA to direct 50 per cent of all new start-ups to the region is significant.

"It is a nice change," adds Finn who says that Irish businesses - not just foreign ones - are doing well. Both men insist that the BMW region was already a good place to do business, but they don't deny that a public transport upgrade worth £200 million and £1 billion in improvements to the non-national roads will help improve it.

And it doesn't stop there. A total of £31 million is earmarked for urban and village renewal schemes, £84 million for the development of e-commerce, £10 million for the seaports of Galway, Greenore, Dundalk and Drogheda and £8 million for Knock, Galway and Carrickfinn airports.

There is a culture, recreation and sports fund of £156 million, further investment in tourism (£59 million), microenterprises (£54 million), rural development (£94 million), forestry (£48 million) and fisheries, aquaculture and harbours (£83 million). The social inclusion programme is worth £220.7 million and is earmarked for childcare, community development and family support, crime prevention, and services to the unemployed. All of this should help attract people to a region that already holds significant appeal, they say. "There is great community spirit, no traffic problems obviously, housing is affordable, and sites are plentiful, so there are huge quality-of-life advantages," says Sheehy. "A lot of the people I see around the world on St Patrick's Day parades say they would love to live in Roscommon but they couldn't generate a reasonable income. So they went off and built up other countries. Now they will be able to come back here and build up their own country."

Many emigrants have said that they don't want to be rearing their kids in a tower block in the Bronx, but in the past they felt they had no choice, explains Sheehy. And lifestyles rather nearer home can also be far from desirable. He and Finn were appalled at how long it took them to return from Dublin the day before this interview - specifically how long it took to get away from the city area. But their horror is reserved for stories of how early people get up to beat suburban traffic.

"You would be getting your children up at six or seven in the morning or not seeing them at all," muses Finn, shaking his head in wonder, and amazed that "people can live like that".

Names of major road schemes trip off their lips: "The entire N4, the Curlew by-pass, the Coolaney to Sligo, the Sligo bypass, the stretch between Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon. Again Sligo is a nice town, close to the seaside; it makes a very attractive place to live and work in."

Balanced regional development is the buzzword. "It's very important to say that we are not against the development of Dublin or the east coast," cautions Sheehy. "Just that with balanced regional development, we get the chance to rectify the relative disadvantage of the region."

BOTH men are adamant that it's wrong to argue that because there are comparatively few people living in the region you need comparatively little investment. I outline the Economic and Social Research Institute's suggestions that investment in the Sligo railway line is not realistic because so few people use it. There is also the ESRI suggestion that we do not need to invest heavily in education services because by 2011 the number of children will have dropped significantly.

Sheehy is close to anger when he says: "That simply perpetuates the disadvantage that has been occurring since the Famine. What I would say is that you need balanced regional development. The cities have grown too fast and resulted in a serious deterioration in the quality of life. If you have proper, balanced development you create worthwhile, viable communities and improve the quality of life. But to do that you have to first of all invest in infrastructure and then the people will come in."

So where are the economic gateways to be? The Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, has not announced their exact location - the development of towns and cities is a political and commercial minefield, and the Minister has said that he doesn't expect to announce the exact locations for two years. Yet the roads, railways and existing cities demonstrate that the choices are limited. Athlone is a certainty because of its geographical counterbalance to Dublin, its Institute of Technology and its good rail and road connections. The environment around Lough Ree is also seen as a plus. Galway is another safe bet. It has a regional airport, is on the coast, has room for expansion, has the National University of Ireland at UCG and is perceived to be a good place to live. It also has the necessary road and rail connections.

The Letterkenny/Derry axis is also likely to benefit - largely because of the presence of the Institute of Technology and the need for cross-Border economic progress. Castlebar is home to the Sligo/Mayo Institute of Technology, while Dundalk or Drogheda would complete the picture. These last two towns are strategically located on the Dublin/Belfast economic corridor.

This leaves the Monaghan/ Cavan/Leitrim area, although it is possible that the Government may decide that breaking down traditional divisions created by the Border would be a fair return for allowing Enniskillen to develop as an economic gateway for this region.